Meanwhile in GeorgeDubyaLand

It is perhaps a year since I wrote anything about George Dubya, but I couldn't let this last episode pass without a final shot or two. A wonderful video has been put together with footage from Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Colin Powell, and George Dubya himself in which they make unequivocal public statements, which are then juxtaposed with them saying the very opposite, and then going on to actually deny having made the original statements in the first place. It is very funny and demonstrates that they are a bunch of liars. There is also some great footage of Sean Penn getting very angry about the lies to the American people. Please watch it, you won't regret it!! It is to be found at

Exciting things happening in Udonthani

about the place. Sorry John, but that's because nothing ever happens. About the most exciting thing has been John's loss of hair. Compare the recent photo on the left with the photo of the hirsute figure on the right taken not so long ago with wife Puy. I take it as a compliment that John is copying my hairstyle.

I also know that John doesn't enjoy jokes about George Dubya, so this may be a good point to thank a number of people who have joined in the spirit of 'View' by not only allowing their photos to be used, but often posing specially to put life into a story. John is a member of this group as are Major John and Christian who first appeared in episode 2. Episode 3 was where Andrew first appeared with 'Australian Rules Scrabble', followed in later episodes by Nongkhai Weight Watchers. George Dubya first appeared in part 5 wearing the 'One Ring' which he has wielded to enrich GeorgeDubyaLand regardless of the cost to the rest of the planet. Major John opened his wallet (releasing a cloud of moths) in part 7, while Jimmy the Schmear, Nigel and Glen first appeared in part 8.  Paul & Eileen appeared together in part 18 swiftly followed by Giulio in part 19, Ranger in part 20 and Dave in part 22. As we now know, Nigel christened him 'Gay Dave' to which he objected so strenuously that it stuck. In a moment of weakness I relented and changed it to 'Not Gay Dave', to make if clear that he is not gay, but in his mind this only made it worse! There's no pleasing some people! One person who has also contributed a lot is Barry, but he doesn't want his picture to appear, so I have included a picture of his twin brother Bruce.

So special thanks to John above, and immediately below from L to R, Bruce (on behalf of Barry), Major John, Christian, Andrew and Jimmy with below them Nigel & Glen, Paul & Eileen, Giulio & wife Sang, Ranger and Not Gay Dave!!

I also want to thank all the unnamed people whose photos I have used. There are so many that I could not count them, let alone mention them all by name, but thanks anyway.

Coming soon to Nongkhai ??

One person who does not appear on the list above, because he is a very recent arrival (part 45) is Rupert. He is planning to become part of the Nongkhai scene very soon. He asked what I thought about moving from Edinburgh to Nongkhai, so I quoted the chunk I wrote under 'Happiness' in part 40  He replied:-

"I READILY ASSOCIATE WITH THE POOR OF THE WORLD AND AGREE THAT THEY ALWAYS ARE THE MOST HAPPY AND AGREEABLE BUNCH.  MONEY AS THEY SAY IS ONLY THAT.

Graham and his Aunt Alice

Back in November 2005, (see part 25 ) Graham's Aunt Alice came to visit Nongkhai. She was an amazing woman, in her nineties, yet prepared to visit Nongkhai and travel on Graham's pillion. I was saddened when Graham told me today that she had died earlier this month. Graham was with her, holding her hand when she passed away. I will repeat what I wrote then that there will be very few who can't learn something from her courage in at least trying a whole new life.

A contemporary of Alice's, another nonagenarian also passed away this month. She was Phyllis Morgan, the mother of my first wife and grandmother to my children.

Conversion from Christianity

I used to have a friend who lived in Nongkhai. It wouldn't be fair to identify him, so I'll use a pseudonym, lets call him "Goldilocks". Inter alia, Goldilocks told people that he owned the house he lived in, that he was part-owner of a club in Bangkok and that he was the drummer on Procol Harum's Whiter Shade of Pale. He was the right age, can certainly play guitar and drums, give a good rendition of 'Stormy Monday' and generally looked like an ageing rock star. The problem came when the owner of the house Goldilocks rented was approached to sell it. Once it was known that Goldilocks claim to ownership of the house was false, the rest of his house of cards came tumbling down, and all he had said was called into question.

My difficulty with the Bible that I mentioned above is very similar. When you know some of it to be false, how can you believe any of it? However I have a second major problem with the Bible in the form of the New Testament. The Old Testament, the Talmud, and the Koran all draw on similar source material, and have many things in common, chief among which is the idea that come judgement day you will be judged on the things you have done in your life. This idea is found in Buddhism too in a slightly different form.

The early Christian Church was a battlefield between those who wanted the Church to have its seat in Jerusalem, (and thus for Christians to be circumcised, obey the laws of Moses, not to eat pork or meat with blood exactly as Jesus would have done), and those led by Paul who wanted the Church to have its seat in Rome, to ignore the law of Moses and to relax the requirements regarding diet and circumcision. The battle was won by Paul (a Greek) with the help of the Romans who destroyed the Temple in Jerusalem. As victors traditionally do, Paul then wrote the history of what had happened entirely from his own perspective. This is why the New Testament is so Anti-Semitic. After all who could argue with him?  In the process, much of the truth was inverted to suit the history that Paul wished to project, and for two millennia this version was accepted as "Gospel".

It was only the discovery and translation of the Dead Sea Scrolls that enabled the scale of the re-write by Paul and others to be seen. Examples include the transfer of James's virginity to Mary, the writing out of Jesus's siblings, and the ultimate irony the idea of transubstantiation where the flesh of Jesus is eaten and his blood drunk. Such ideas of eating flesh and drinking blood would have been an anathema to Jesus the circumcised Jew. But for me the worst inversion introduced by Paul in the New Testament is the idea that you simply have to believe in Jesus Christ to achieve eternal salvation (whatever that is). It really doesn't matter what you do in your life, as long as at the end of it you believe in Jesus Christ. As the winner of the battle for control of the early Christian Church, Paul took the Old Testament idea that it is what you actually do that matters, and reversed it.

No wonder George Dubya is a Christian - it doesn't matter who is invaded, who is robbed, or who dies as a result, just as long as George Dubya believes in Jesus.

I am an atheist, so I don't believe in Jesus, and won't be 'saved', but I have no difficulty living my life in accordance with the principles common to the Talmud, the Koran and the Old Testament, as these accord with principles of Buddhism and Ethical Hedonism defined in part 25

Another Easy Target

Hard to choose whether to sight the crosshairs on Bill Gates or George Dubya first. Most computer users will recognise this as yet another of those irritating Microsoft screens. Have you ever read any of them?

Much nicer to look at these pictures of my niece Nao (as she now prefers to be known), showing how much she has grown in the short time she has been living in Nongkhai. The two photos above were taken in July, while those below start two years ago and end with Nao's birthday last month.

Memorabilia on display

This elaborate roadside display is outside the Highways Department at Khon Kaen. They have clearly gone to a lot of trouble to simulate a mobile crane lifting a bridge segment into place.

It seems apt that having spent my working life in construction, predominantly civil engineering, this should be the final display of memorabilia.

On the subject of memorabilia, in the four years I have lived in Nongkhai, the best events include Glen's Beach Party ( part 32 ), Brendan's quiz afternoons, ( part 15 ) and José's Thanksgiving speech. Christian's Savoy Restaurant has never been equalled as the best restaurant in town.

Three stages in a man's life

The picture below of a lion comes from a site with a lot of dramatic pictures of African animals. Do visit it at http://www.younggalleryphoto.com/photography/brandt/brandt.html

I wanted a suitable image to go with the answer to the question connecting the barefoot monk and the water skier.

Perhaps the spectacles should have given it away, they are both old photographs of His Majesty King Bhumibol of Thailand, the world's longest serving monarch.

Reading Styles

Reading styles vary. Big Sam from Australia (as he titles himself) is "stuck on a farm in the most miserable winter weather and was all excited that there was a new episode on my screen."

So I imagine that Sam actually reads each episode line by line and finds all the embedded jokes. But I do know that some in Nongkhai simply scan through the pictures to see whether they have made an appearance. As a writer who spends several days creating each episode this naturally disappoints me, but I accept that we are all different.

I suspect that there will have been those in Nongkhai who have scanned through to see whether their name or picture appeared in the 'thankyous' above, and I do sincerely apologize to all those who have not been included, but there are four people I deliberately left until the end, partly to wind them up if they were looking for a mention, and partly because they more than any others contributed to the spirit of 'View' as it evolved. So very special thanks for the contributions and friendship of Jon, Brendan, José and Ian. If you are not sure, Ian is in the yellow T-shirt and I am in the blue.

To view all previous episodes move your mouse cursor over this big yellow button and left click